Football in 2011

Originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year. Presented as archival content. Learn more.

This article was originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year, an annual print publication that
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Europe

In 2011 national association football (soccer) teams in Europe were occupied with qualifying for the final stages of Euro 2012, the European championship to be held jointly in Poland and Ukraine, but overshadowing the overall game were the accusations of bribery and corruption leveled at certain members of the FIFA executive committee. This scandal emerged in the aftermath of the controversial campaign to decide the host countries for the FIFA World Cup finals of 2018 and 2022, eventually awarded to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

Two FIFA committee members had already received bans for breaches of the organization’s code of ethics. Chuck Blazer, FIFA executive committee member and its U.S. representative, raised the levels of alarm by reporting Mohamed Bin Hammam, a Qatari candidate for the FIFA presidency, and the FIFA vice president, Jack Warner, to the ethics committee on suspicion of wrongdoing. Bin Hammam insisted that the incumbent president, Josep S. Blatter, should also be investigated. Blatter was cleared, but both Bin Hammam and Warner were suspended pending an inquiry, and Warner subsequently resigned. Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy and later received a lifetime ban by FIFA for offering cash for votes. The English Football Association led a call for the postponement of the election, but Blatter was reelected unopposed, with the world governing body’s standing severely damaged.

Revelations concerning match fixing on a wide scale also shook the sport. Unusual betting patterns on the result of matches had been on the increase. UEFA, soccer’s European organization, had more than 300 club and international matches under review, and arrests of individuals included those in Finland and Turkey. In an unprecedented move, Fenerbahce SK, the Turkish champion, was removed from the Champions League because of the club’s involvement in match fixing and replaced by the Turkish League runner-up, Trabzonspor, which had been competing in the Europa League. Six match officials were given lifetime bans after all seven goals in two international matches involving Estonia, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Bolivia had resulted from penalty kicks. FIFA also entered into a long-term agreement with Interpol to set up an anticorruption training wing.

Fortunately, the Champions League final between FC Barcelona, the ultimate victor, and Manchester United on May 28 at Wembley Stadium in London, before a crowd of 87,695, bristled with the finest qualities of the beautiful game. Josep (“Pep”) Guardiola, the 40-year-old coach of the favourite, Barcelona, was looking for a repeat of the team’s 2009 final triumph in Rome. Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson—at age 69 the longest-serving manager in England, having led United from 1986 to 24 various league and cup honours—was chasing his third such trophy.

Manchester United’s game plan was to contain and frustrate Barcelona to prevent the Spanish team from developing its passing game at the midfield source. The scheme worked for 10 or 15 minutes before Barcelona adjusted tactics. With the momentum that allowed the player in possession to have the luxury of three of four options for passing to a colleague, Barcelona gradually gained supremacy, with the nearly faultless midfielder Xavi (Xavier Hernández) the focal point of this strategy.

Significantly, it was Xavi who fed the ball through for Pedro Rodríguez to drill in a shot from inside the penalty area in the 27th minute. The match seemed within the Spanish team’s control, so it was a complete surprise when United equalized seven minutes later. Wayne Rooney exchanged passes with Ryan Giggs and curled a shot high into the net. It was to be United’s only shot on target. Nine minutes into the second half, Barcelona restored its lead. Argentine international Lionel Messi characteristically darted through to hit a left-foot snap shot from just outside the penalty area. It was his 12th goal in the competition and his 53rd of the season in only 55 matches. David Villa made it 3–1 with a chip from long range in the 69th minute. Incredibly, it was Barcelona’s 152nd goal of the season. Messi, voted UEFA’s inaugural Best Player in Europe, became the first player to be outright Champions League leading scorer in three consecutive seasons, taking his tally to 12, which equaled Dutch international Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record with Manchester United in 2002–03.

It was an all-Portuguese Europa League final between FC Porto and SC Braga on May 18 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, before a crowd of 45,391. Braga went on the offensive from the start but then retreated in defense as the game developed into a stalemate. The deadlock was broken a minute before halftime when Porto’s leading scorer, Colombian international Radamel Falcao, headed in a cross-field pass from Fredy Guarin, who had picked up the ball from a Braga defensive error. It was Falcao’s 17th goal in the competition and proved to be the only one of the game. He was subsequently transferred to Atlético Madrid for €40 million (€1 = about $1.45). Several weeks later Porto coach André Villas-Boas was appointed manager of Chelsea; his predecessor, José Mourinho, had made the same coaching move to that English football club after Porto won the Champions League in 2004.

Spanish international Raúl (Raúl Gonzalez), the former Real Madrid striker, added to his impressive total of appearances and goals in the Champions League, topping both charts with 144 matches and 71 goals in his first season with Schalke 04 in the German Bundesliga. Real Madrid provided the leading marksman in Europe when the Portugal international Cristiano Ronaldo hit 40 goals, a season record for Spain’s La Liga. The Madrid club also scored 102 league goals. In Estonia, Tallinn clubs Flora and Levadia hit 104 and 100 goals, respectively. Conversely, Estonia’s Lootus club posted the most porous defense, with 103 goals conceded.

Manchester United became the most successful championship team in England, with its 19th overall title and 12th in the Premier League. The club was almost invincible in the league when playing at its home field of Old Trafford, dropping only two points in a drawn match with West Bromwich Albion. Goals in the Premier League reached a new high, with 1,063 being scored. United’s Giggs overtook legendary Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of appearances for the club and finished the season with a record 12 championship medals, 613 League appearances, and the honour of having been the only player to have scored in every one of his 18 Premier League seasons.

United’s neighbour Manchester City had its best season since winning the League Cup in 1976, annexing the FA Cup and finishing third in the Premier League. The club also announced a record £400 million (£1 = about $1.60) naming rights deal with Etihad Airways. Chelsea set a new British transfer record by trading Spain’s international striker Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50 million. The record for an English player was broken when Liverpool replaced Torres with Andy Carroll from Newcastle United in a £35 million deal. Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon was believed to have become the world’s highest-paid soccer player when he was traded by Milan’s Internazionale to Anzhi Makhachkala, from oil-rich Dagestan on the Caspian Sea in Russia. Eto’o was rumoured to have signed a three-year contract for an annual salary of about €20 million, or €385,000 per week.

Sectarian rivalry between Protestants and Catholics reached unacceptable proportions in Scotland with Rangers and Celtic matches attracting violence on and off the pitch. Death threats were made to Celtic manager Neil Lennon; parcel bombs and bullets were sent in the post; and he was even attacked by a spectator. Some 229 arrests were made at one Glasgow match, and Lennon was placed under 24-hour protection. Rangers won the title for the third season in a row.

While Real Madrid and Barcelona were the soccer world’s top two richest clubs, the Spanish La Liga suffered in the economic downturn. The season due to start in August 2011 was delayed a week because of a players’ strike. Their union claimed that €50 million was owed to them by clubs. The Italian opening was postponed for two weeks by players seeking improved conditions.

Spain’s stock continued to rise at the national level. Already reigning World Cup champion, it added UEFA trophies at Under-19 and Under-21 levels in 2011. At the FIFA women’s World Cup, France, which lost to the U.S. in the semifinals, and Sweden, which fell to the eventual champion, Japan, faced off in the bronze medal match, where the Swedish women defeated the French 2–1.

MVP Homare Sawa (centre) raises the trophy aloft as she and her Japanese teammates celebrate their …

The Americas

Uruguay, the South American country that placed the best (fourth) in the 2010 FIFA association football (soccer) World Cup, in 2011 confirmed its regional supremacy by beating Paraguay 3–0 in the final of the 43rd Copa América. Venezuela, until recently the continent’s poor relation in soccer, reached the semifinal, while favourites Argentina (the host) and Brazil were knocked out in the quarterfinals. The invited CONCACAF teams, Mexico and Costa Rica, sent B teams while their best players were engaged in the CONCACAF Gold Cup at almost the same time. The latter was won by Mexico for its second straight and record sixth victory, beating the U.S. 4–2 in the final. Mexico also captured the Pan American Games tournament with a 1–0 final triumph over Argentina.

Brazil did better at the club level; Santos won the Libertadores Cup against Uruguay’s Peñarol (0–0, 2–1), and Internacional of Porto Alegre defeated Argentina’s Independiente (1–2, 3–1) in the Recopa (held between the 2010 Libertadores and South American Cup winners, respectively). The CONCACAF Champions League trophy went to a Mexican club for the sixth straight year as Monterrey edged (2–2, 1–0) Real Salt Lake (Utah), which reached the final with a 37-match unbeaten run.

Argentina’s Boca Juniors finally secured a title again (an unbeaten 2011–12 opening tournament) after three years and returned to international competition (the Libertadores) after a two-year absence. Nacional won the Uruguay title and the opening tournament of the 2011–12 season. Meanwhile, Universidad de Chile won that country’s opening tournament as well as the South American Cup final against Ecuador’s Liga Deportiva Universitaria (1–0, 3–0) and, after a 36-match unbeaten run, won in Chile’s closing tournament.

In the U.S. the Los Angeles Galaxy captured the Major League Soccer (MLS) title for the first time with a 1–0 win over the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup. The Seattle Sounders took the U.S. Open Cup for the third straight year, beating the Chicago Fire 2–0 in the final.

Africa and Asia

Japan’s status rose higher on the association football (soccer) scene in 2011. In January an overtime goal by substitute Lee Tadanari gave the Japanese men’s national team victory over Australia in the final of the Asian Cup, its fourth title in the quadrennial tournament. The timing of the finals in Doha, Qatar, was of special interest as the temperatures dropped considerably in evening matches amid the ongoing controversy over the 2022 FIFA World Cup, due to be held in Qatar during the hot summer.

Japan raised its international soccer profile even more in July when it won the FIFA women’s World Cup in Germany. The Japanese team, led by MVP Homare Sawa, defeated the highly favoured U.S. in a penalty shoot-out in the final match.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo team TP Mazembe, playing in its home field in Lubumbashi, retained its African Super Cup title but needed a penalty shoot-out to dispose of FUS Rabat from Morocco in the final. Peter Odemwingie, the Nigerian striker with West Bromwich Albion, was voted the English Premier League’s African Player of the Year, beating Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan of Sunderland and the Ivorian Yaya Toure from Manchester City, who finished second and third, respectively.

U.S. Football

College

The story that garnered the most attention during the 2011–12 college football season was the sex-abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University, which on Nov. 9, 2011, cost longtime coach Joe Paterno his job. Paterno was fired four days after former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with having sexually assaulted eight boys over a 15-year period. The school deemed that Paterno did not do enough when then graduate assistant Mike McQueary reported to Paterno in 2002 that he saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in the shower at the school’s practice facility. Paterno started his career at Penn State as an assistant coach in 1950 before taking over the program in 1966. He finished his career with 409 wins, a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) record. Another scandal rocked Ohio State University and led to the resignation of coach Jim Tressel on May 30. The NCAA accused Tressel of withholding information and lying during an investigation into violations. Luke Fickell took over as coach for the season, and former Florida coach Urban Meyer was hired on November 28 to run the program.

On the field Alabama (12–1) secured its second Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title in three seasons by upsetting top-ranked Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion Louisiana State University (LSU; 13–1) by a score of 21–0 in New Orleans on Jan. 9, 2012. The game was a rematch between teams that had met on November 5, when LSU secured a 9–6 overtime win over the Crimson Tide. Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma State (12–1) won its first BCS bowl game with a thrilling 41–38 overtime victory over Stanford University (11–2) in the Fiesta Bowl. The Rose Bowl also was wildly entertaining, with Pacific-12 Conference champion Oregon (12–2) defeating Big Ten Conference winner Wisconsin (11–3) by a margin of 45–38 in the highest-scoring Rose Bowl ever. It was the Ducks’ first Rose Bowl victory since the 1916–17 season. Michigan (11–3) won its first BCS bowl since the 1999–2000 season with a 23–20 overtime victory over Virginia Tech (11–3) in the Sugar Bowl. Big East Conference champion West Virginia (10–3) set a bowl scoring record in the Orange Bowl when it beat Atlantic Coast Conference winner Clemson (10–4) by a margin of 70–33.

Quarterback Robert Griffin III became Baylor’s first Heisman Trophy winner, beating out the preseason favourite, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Griffin, a junior, received 1,687 points, 280 more than Luck, who was the fourth player to be Heisman runner-up in consecutive seasons. Griffin led Baylor (10–3) to its first bowl win since 1992 in an incredible 67–56 victory over Washington in the Alamo Bowl. He completed 24 of 33 passes for 295 yd, throwing one touchdown pass and running for another score in a contest that featured the most points ever in regulation for a bowl game. Griffin finished the season with 4,293 passing yards, 37 touchdown passes, a completion percentage of 72.4, and a quarterback rating of 189.5, as well as 699 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. In addition to the Heisman, Griffin received the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award. Luck won the Maxwell Award for most outstanding player, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the quarterback who best exemplified character and scholastic and athletic achievement. Alabama’s Trent Richardson, the third-place finisher in the Heisman voting, took the Doak Walker Award for top running back. For the second straight season, Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon, who caught eight passes for 186 yd and three touchdowns in the Fiesta Bowl, won the Fred Biletnikoff Award for most outstanding wide receiver. LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu won the Chuck Bednarik Award for defensive player of the year. Running back Montee Ball of Wisconsin led the FBS with 1,923 yd rushing and 33 touchdowns and caught 6 touchdown passes to tie Barry Sanders’s 23-year-old FBS single-season record of 39 total scores.

Professional

The NFC Green Bay Packers defeated the AFC Pittsburgh Steelers 31–25 in Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2011, winning their first NFL championship in 14 years and their league-record 13th title—9 of which came before the Super Bowl era. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers captured the Super Bowl MVP award after completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yd and three touchdowns without an interception as the Packers became just the second number six seed to win the Super Bowl.

The 2011–12 season was threatened by a labour dispute between players and owners, but the sides agreed to a deal after a lockout of nearly four and a half months, and the season started on time. Green Bay finished the 2010–11 season on a six-game winning streak—including the play-offs—and opened the 2011–12 campaign with 13 consecutive victories before falling 19–14 on the road to the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 18, 2011. The Packers came up two wins short of tying the NFL record of 21 consecutive victories set by the 2003–04 and 2004–05 New England Patriots but still finished 15–1 to win the NFC North. Rodgers threw for Packers records of 4,643 yd and 45 touchdown passes while setting an NFL mark with a 122.5 passer rating. In their first year under coach Jim Harbaugh, the San Francisco 49ers (13–3) locked up their first NFC West title since the 2002–03 season. The New Orleans Saints (13–3) won the NFC South for the second time in three seasons behind a slew of record-setting performances. Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw for 5,476 yd to break former Miami Dolphin Dan Marino’s 27-year-old single-season passing record of 5,084 yd. Brees also threw 46 touchdown passes, the fourth most in NFL history, and set other records with 468 completions, a 71.2 completion percentage, and 13 games—7 of them consecutive—with at least 300 yd passing. As a team, New Orleans set league records with 7,474 offensive yards, 5,347 passing yards, and 416 first downs. Saints running back Darren Sproles set an NFL record with 2,969 combined yards. The New York Giants (9–7) clinched the NFC East title in the final game of the regular season with a 31–14 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback Eli Manning set a Giants passing record with 4,933 yd. The Atlanta Falcons (10–6) and the Detroit Lions (10–6) reached the play-offs as wild cards.

In the AFC the New England Patriots (13–3) won the East Division for the eighth time in nine seasons behind quarterback Tom Brady, who threw for 5,235 yd and 39 touchdowns. The Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski set an NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end with 1,327. The Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers each posted a 12–4 record, but the Ravens won the AFC North over the Steelers with a tiebreaker, pushing Pittsburgh to wild-card status and a first-round play-off matchup with the AFC West champion Denver Broncos (8–8). Denver reached the postseason for the first time since the 2005–06 season as quarterback Tim Tebow became the starter in October and led the Broncos to 7 wins in 12 games. The Houston Texans (10–6) earned their first play-off berth, winning the AFC South despite losing their top two quarterbacks, Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, to injuries. Houston’s first play-off game was against the Cincinnati Bengals (9–7), who earned a wild-card berth on the last day of the season.

Quarterback Tim Tebow (centre) of the NFL Denver Broncos shakes off a defensive tackle as he …

Jack Dempsey/AP

Other clubs had disappointing seasons—none more than the Indianapolis Colts (2–14). Indianapolis entered 2011–12 on a run of nine straight double-digit win seasons with Peyton Manning at quarterback, but he missed the 2011–12 season after multiple neck surgeries. The poor campaign cost vice-chairman Bill Polian and his son Chris Polian, the team’s general manager, their jobs, and it seemed unlikely that head coach Jim Caldwell would keep his for very much longer. The Jacksonville Jaguars (5–11) fired coach Jack Del Rio after a 3–8 start, and owner Wayne Weaver sold the team to Illinois businessman Shahid Khan on the same day. The Miami Dolphins (6–10) got rid of coach Tony Sparano after a 4–9 start, and Kansas City relieved coach Todd Haley of his duties after opening 5–8. Following the season the St. Louis Rams (2–14) let coach Steve Spagnuolo go, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4–12) fired coach Raheem Morris after they lost their final 10 games, and the Oakland Raiders cut ties with Hue Jackson after they went 8–8 in his only year at the helm.

Canadian Football

The British Columbia Lions won the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the sixth time with a 34–23 Grey Cup victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Nov. 27, 2011, at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. The Lions were the fourth team to win the Grey Cup at home but the first in CFL history to capture a championship after having started the season with five straight losses. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay, the Grey Cup MVP, completed 21 of 37 passes for 320 yd and threw a pair of touchdowns in the second half. During the regular season Lulay had earned the CFL Most Outstanding Player honours as he passed for 4,815 yd and 32 touchdowns in helping B.C. win 11 of its final 13 games to finish first in the West Division at 11–7. B.C. reached the Grey Cup with a 40–23 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos (11–7) in the Playoffs Finals. Winnipeg (10–8) topped the East Division and beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (8–10) by a score of 19–3 in the other Playoffs Final.

The Montreal Alouettes (10–8), winner of the last two Grey Cups, lost 52–44 in overtime to Hamilton in the Playoffs Semi-Finals. Meanwhile, Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo broke three of Damon Allen’s career CFL records with 73,412 passing yards, 418 touchdowns, and 5,444 completions. Winnipeg defensive back Jovon Johnson was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and Edmonton running back Jerome Messam was named the Canadian Player of the Year.

Australian Football

On Oct. 1, 2011, the Australian Football League (AFL) season’s two most powerful clubs, the Geelong Cats and the Collingwood Magpies, met in the AFL Grand Final for the first time since 1953. Geelong triumphed 18.11 (119)–12.9 (81), notching the club’s ninth premiership before a crowd of 99,537 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Geelong started as the favourite for the big match and won the game with a powerful second half, when players such as Tom Hawkins, Joel Selwood, and Norm Smith Award winner James Bartel stood out. The Cats—with three victories (2007, 2009, 2011), a second-place finish (2008), and a third-place finish (2010) in five seasons—were being compared to the greatest past premiership teams. Collingwood was attempting to win its 16th premiership and join Essendon and Carlton at the head of the AFL premierships table, but after opening up a lead in the second quarter of the Grand Final, the Magpies could not maintain the pressure and were held goalless in the last quarter. Collingwood had extra incentive to win, as Michael Mathouse was coaching for the club for the last time after a long term in the job. The Geelong victory instead was a magnificent triumph for its first-year senior coach, Chris Scott.

Collingwood midfielder Dane Swann captured the Brownlow Medal as the home-and-away season’s best and fairest player. Hawthorn’s Lance Franklin, with 71 goals, earned the Coleman Medal as the season’s top goalkicker, and 19-year-old Dyson Heppell of Essendon was named the Rising Star.

Rugby Football

The biggest event in Rugby Union in 2011 was the quadrennial World Cup, which took place in New Zealand on September 9–October 23. New Zealand’s 8–7 victory over France in the final confirmed that the All Blacks were the number one rugby team in the world. (See Sidebar.) It was a season of new beginnings and endings for the sport in the Southern Hemisphere; new winning team names were inscribed on two major trophies: the Tri-Nations and the former Super 14 club tournament.

Tony Woodcock (right) races ahead of his delighted New Zealand All Blacks teammates to score a try …

Rob Griffith/AP

After eight winless years in Europe, England finally climbed to the top of the Six Nations table as manager Martin Johnson showed genuine development of his young team. Johnson came close to turning that championship into a Grand Slam (victories in all five matches) until the final day, when England fell 24–8 to Ireland in Dublin. Even that defeat could not dampen England’s joy at triumphing in a campaign that included a stunning tournament debut for Northampton wing Chris Ashton, who scored twice in his first game—against Wales—and then followed it up with an incredible four tries against Italy, becoming the first England player to hit that mark since 1914. Johnson, aged 41, resigned as manager in November, however, after England’s poor showing in the World Cup.

Italy finished at the bottom of the table, but the tournament was likely to be remembered for that country’s incredible 22–21 victory over the reigning Grand Slam holder, France. Since the Italians joined the tournament in 2000, their improved performances had hinted at a breakthrough win, and it came in 2011 before coach Nick Mallett confirmed his departure from the job.

Ireland’s Leinster picked up the Heineken Cup for the second time in three years as that team overcame a 22–6 deficit against Northampton at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, inspired by second-half displays from Jonathan Sexton and Brian O’Driscoll. The second tier of European competition, the Amlin Challenge Cup, went to the English side Harlequins. Saracens won England’s Aviva Premiership for the first time, trouncing Leicester 50–25 in the final, while Munster won the final Magners League title, beating Leinster 19–9 before the tournament was renamed the RaboDirect PRO 12.

Down under, Australia had not won the Tri-Nations tournament for 10 years. In 2011, however, the Wallabies bucked their losing trend, overcoming New Zealand 25–20 before a home crowd in the final match in Brisbane. The tournament was the last Tri-Nations, with Argentina joining the newly renamed Rugby Championship competition in 2012. Most observers saw this as a welcome expansion to the annual tournament that decided the best side in the Southern Hemisphere.

Super Rugby (formerly the Super 14 competition) had a new winner as the Reds (from Queensland, Australia) completed a remarkable reverse in their fortunes. The Reds had finished in the bottom three of the table every year from 2004 to 2009, but they went to the top in 2011, beating the Canterbury (N.Z.) Crusaders 18–13 in the final.